Day 10: Three in a Row

My third portage in as many days was almost a nightmare.

After a very fortunate ~14 mile open water crossing of Lake Winnibigoshish I reached the dam by ~6pm. I say fortunate because this day could’ve easily been delayed if rain was in the forecast at all. At about mile 10 of the open water crossing there is a place to bail out (Tamarack Point). But Lake Winni is not a place you want to be caught in a storm.

If I had a choice I especially would not want to stop at Tamarack Point this time of year. The flies were so bad there they were attacking me in the open water over a mile from shore.

The portage around the dam at Lake Winni was an overgrown footpath, uphill, ~200 yards through the woods. I posted a clip of this footpath on TikTok where I asked if the vegetation was bamboo. Interestingly enough a commenter identified the vegetation as “horse tail”. If you google “horse tail”, it’s referred to as an ancient living “fossil” because it spreads by spores instead of seeds. So that’s what I learned today.

Instead of using this portage trail I turned back to the opposite edge of the shoreline to portage up a much more manageable slope.

By 8pm or so, my two hour portage was complete.

A short distance later I was camped at a favorite spot for locals.

While setting up I met (Kristen and Jayson?) who were passing through on their ATV. They showed me the Facebook page of another man who they had met at this exact spot several years earlier. Because of cell service and battery life I haven’t looked into this yet. But at some point in the recent past a man traveled from Northern Canada to South America by a combination of bicycle, kayak, and sail boat. It was called the Mannekin Trip.

In the morning another couple came by in their ATV to scout out the water (Pete and Lynn?) for their grandkids who would be tubing from the dam to this spot later that day.